I suggest you heed your own advice. You are no where near "on the fence," therefore, we do not care to here your ignorance-filled posts. Once again, take off your own blinders, this thread is merely suggestions on how to spread our word, I'm not sure how you've missed that. Don't come onto a board on soccer, bash soccer, and then expect us to listen to you ramble on about why you'll never care about soccer, then expose your lack of knowledge on the subject that you were commenting on.
I think Scrlvr probably played soccer as a kid thinking it looked cool and was different. I'm quite sure his parents didn't like it. Then one game, a girl nutmegged him and scored the winning goal. His dad humiliated, ridiculed him and forbid him to play. His girlfriend in high school dumped him for the star of the soccer team. Since then he has made it his life ambition to hate soccer.
...and then he got a sex change because he was sick of his daddy touching him like that. perfect joco material.
Robb, If you are still reading this thread-jacked thread....this is your biggest issue. Most of us are too passionate to deal with a person that does not like the game. As you can see, a useful discussion about our sport can turn to $h!t in a hurry if one person spouts off against it. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it. This does serve as a good example of some of the statements earlier. Focus marketing toward those people that play/watch soccer now. You can probably get 5 new fans for the same money that have some association with soccer already in their life for every 1 pure convert
Robb, thank you again for asking our opinions. We appreciate we have input in the things you guys do.
Taking off from the Ward Parkway kiosk idea, would be to have that kiosk plus info about the season's schedule and temporary location all over town Many people I know have no idea where the Wizards are playing next month. No idea at all. Telling people -- repeatedly -- is the only way. A nice article in the Star doesn't cut it. A lot of people have abandoned print media. TV, Radio, Newspaper, Internet -- bombard with coverage in all manner of ways. Get the season schedule everywhere -- magnets, bookmarks in public libraries, flyers, posters, bombard myspace, facebook, etc.... Colleges and Universities have been mentioned and that is a good target. Someone else mentioned adult soccer leagues -- kiosk at All American, kiosk in Olathe, kiosk at the Polo Fields, etc...
There is some validity to this post. I happen to think that some of ScrLvr's views are accurate. They may not represent anything close to a majority opinion on this board (obviously), which is why he's gotten so much backlash, but if you take a straw poll of 1000 random sports fans and people, I think quite a few would share some of the views he points out. Now if he's just here to cause a fight to get his rocks off, that isn't what these boards are for. But there is nothing wrong with people voicing their opinions, whether they go along with the theme of the site (pro-soccer) or not. I find it odd that so many people that tend toward the liberal side of politics don't like the debate posters like this can bring. Not that I agree with him, let's be clear on that. And if he's being an ass then I'm right with everyone.
It's not what he said, so much as the way he said it. There's something to be said for tact. There are certainly more people in the area that share that opinion than share ours, but it costs nothing to be polite.
Hey guys, for all those who are replying with comments like "it's not worth responding", then stop replying to it. You all are doing exactly what that person wants you to do, steering this thread into a debate of his/her point. Whether you agree with that person or not, this is a great thread intended to provide ideas and advice for Wizards, why don't we stay on topic? I'm just curious, for those who were new to Wizards, how did they find this kind of stuff about Wizards even when they were in Arrowhead? Was it all just word of mouth, or how much was it from advertising? I'm guesing it's probably combination of both, but would be interesting to know how effective different methods were.
VISIBILITY is key! The Menace get more print and TV coverage in Des Moines than the Wizards do in KC. I don't get the Star anymore, but I read the Sports cover to cover when I'm in KC. I haven't seen many references to articles about the team. We're in training; we're picking up Trujillo (?), but I've seen little other than the Bannister petition and developments. Who's going to replace Garcia, Johnson, Burciaga? Some of the local sports fans should be interested. Some local reporter should be on this. I grew up in Johnson County many years ago - long before there were any soccer fields in the county. I first played soccer at KU on a field hockey field with my roommates German class. I moved to upstate New York and started playing in a local league. I move to Iowa in 1976, and immediately got involved in youth soccer - coaching, refereeing, and playing OTH. I get to KC for games whenever I can, but have a lot of family all over Iowa (most Iowa City and Cedar Rapids) so I can only get to a few games a year. I try to bring KC family to games when I can, but will go by myself if no one is interested. In that case, I join the Cauldron! I appreciate Sam's effort to get me season tickets - which I bought when I could use them whenever I wanted. I'll probably hope that I can get tickets when I can schedule my trips to KC. I'd love to see me have to plan far in advance to get tickets, because of all the sell-outs.
Exactly which team in MLS does that? I'm with Wade. Just present the game the way it is. Market it to Joe and Jane Sixpack - not their kids. Kids will follow, they always do. It's one thing to be kid friendly, another to be kid-centric. Soccer America style. We don't do pro/rel. We do do playoffs. We don't do August/April. We do follow FIFA's LOTG. Target 18-35 year-old men. Sports fans. Kids want to do what young adults like, so you'll get them anyway. Don't make it a stag party, this is America. One interesting thing about going to World Cup games is the gender mix of various country groups. The U.S. at the World Cup had one of the larger percentages of women in the stands. Among the non-Arabic participants, the England sections I saw has the lowest. (and having stood in a couple of them, it's not hard to understand why). Follow the NFL model. Take the long-term play, avoid "quick fixes". Put a quality, attractive product on the field. Flood the local English and Spanish language media (print/radio/television) with stories, with players and coach appearances. Get the local media to start spending their dollars promoting the Wizards.
The Chiefs had to play in a baseball stadium and never had permanent home for their first 9 seasons in KC, yet they grew to be a centerpoint of the city. So this whole playing in a baseball stadium-thing has worked before and I'm sure it can work again. The season starts at the ending of the college basketball season, and this sports town will want something to fill its time between that and football season. I mean people have been craving an NHL or NBA team for some time now...so why not get them to figure out that an MLS team is just as good(and IMO much better) as having one of those leagues move to KC. The only other teams playing at this time are the Royals and the Brigade. We must make it clear that the Wizards are the only playoff team at a major league level playing during spring/summer. Now I'm not saying trash the Royals for being the bottom-feeder organization that they are now, because that would even upset me as a Wizards/Royals fan, but we need to somehow hint that this is a quality team that is in the midst of an exciting building period(with the team, stadium, fanbase, traditions, etc.) Hell, maybe even try and figure out a time when the Royals have a weekend series the same weekend that the Wizards have a Saturday game. I know I would come down for a weekend like that. I also know that the Royals advertise in this market that is dominated by the Cubs and yet some families actually do make trips to KC for a weekend series. We're not quite 3 hours away and have the highest attendence of a PDL team by far. People actually care about soccer up here, and if you can manage to get people to notice you I'm sure there would be quite a few Central Iowans that would be willing to give the Wizards a shot.
Huh? Then again, "people that tend toward the liberal side of politics" = "people to the left of Ben" = "everyone on this board".
I personally think the Wizards die hard fans are its best current marketing scheme- Think of the money the Wizards will have to spend just trying to find the people we already know. If we made the commitment to bring a few people to just a few games a season- I know co-workers and family are a lot easier for us to convince to come out to a game than any KC Star columnist, billboard, or radio show. You know that guy who watches EPL every weekend but won't give MLS a chance? Drag his ass out of his living room once in a while- That foreigner who works in your office? Maybe he hasn't a clue we even exist and that friend of your sister who married that guy from South America and moved him up here? I don't mean to take all the responsibly off of the Wizards but there are things that each of us can do if only we are willing.
I just received a press release with this headline: Kansas City Wizards to Host Dora the Explorer, Scooby Doo, D.C. United Saturday March, 29 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in KCK This is my point. It's one thing to be kid-friendly, another to be kid-centric. Dora the Explorer? Scooby Doo? Robb, you have to decide who your audience is. Is it the family and kids that keeps minor league sports afloat? Or is it the young adult crowds that make major league and major college sports what they are? I'm not seeing a lot young faces in this Kansas City Wizards/Toronto FC crowd: I have never received a press release from Michelle Lissel at TFC trumpeting some cartoon character appearance. Another interesting marketing effort from that game is that Toronto FC sent the 15,000 season ticket holders their opening game tickets attached to a scarf. From day one, the entire stadium was branded. There were kids in the crowd, but it was an adult sporting event with a professional atmosphere. I'm sure there were promotional mascots on the concourse, and there was a "fan fest" zone in one of the parking lots with games aimed at kids - but the focus was the game and the target was young adults.
i think you'd be really hard pressed to find a solid poster on here who hasn't done exactly this.... over and over again. i'm not saying it's bad, just that's it's not something new. 'course, it won't hurt to bring it up again.